ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that Nigeria is blessed with abundant solid mineral deposits and should not remain poor despite its immense natural and human resources.
The President made the remarks on Wednesday at the 2025 Nigeria Mining Week held in Abuja.
Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, Tinubu said, “Nigeria has no reason to be poor, given our abundant resources and talented people.
“Our challenge is to harness these potentials to bring prosperity to all. Let us turn our minerals into miracles of development. ‘Minerals to Miracles’ must be our rallying cry.”
He described the Nigeria Mining Week as “an emerging global forum generating ideas to guide the nation’s journey toward economic renewal through investor and company collaboration.”
Tinubu assured that the Federal Government remained committed to ensuring that mining areas across Nigeria are safe for all stakeholders, including investors, workers, and host communities.
Highlighting Nigeria’s leadership role in Africa, the President said, “When our mining sector thrives, it signals that value-added resource development is Africa’s way forward.”
He noted that Africa holds about 30 per cent of the world’s known mineral reserves and significant deposits of critical minerals that drive the 21st-century global economy, Channels TV reports.
“We must harness this wealth responsibly, ensuring that more value remains within our economies, creating jobs and industrial clusters,” Tinubu added.
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Earlier, the Deputy Director of Communications and Stakeholders Management at the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Chris Ochonu, urged policymakers to ensure a harmonised, transparent, and predictable regulatory framework for the solid minerals sector to sustain growth and attract long-term investment.
Ochonu acknowledged improvements in licensing processes but called for urgent measures to address multiple taxation and policy overlaps, which discourage credible investors and hinder sectoral growth.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, described the mining sector as being at a defining moment, undergoing “far-reaching reforms aimed at repositioning it from a largely informal and underperforming space into a cornerstone of our economic diversification and energy transition strategy.”
Citing NEITI’s 2023 Solid Minerals Industry Report, Orji revealed that the sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s GDP remains below 1 per cent, though revenue increased modestly from N339.57 billion in 2022 to N401.87 billion in 2023.
He explained that despite the growth, the figures are far below the sector’s full potential.
“Our data further reveal that artisanal and small-scale mining accounted for over 80 per cent of total production volumes but contributed less than 30 per cent of royalties paid. This underscores deep governance and structural challenges that demand urgent reform,” Orji said.
Also speaking, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Oladele Alake, presented a report on the reforms initiated by the Tinubu administration to transform the mining sector into a driver of sustainable economic growth.
On the sidelines of the Mining Week, Dr. Orji also addressed a special forum organised by the Kaduna Mining Development Company, where he emphasised the importance of transparency and accountability in repositioning the company for greater productivity, investor confidence, and sustainable impact.
In his detailed presentation, he highlighted how sub-national mining companies can play a strategic role in driving institutional reforms and attracting investments into state economies.